WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama nominated Rosemary Marquez to a
judgeship on the U.S. District Court for Arizona on June 23, 2011.

One year later, the nomination has not moved an inch.

Despite a “dire” need for judges on the overworked district court,
Marquez has yet to have a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee
scheduled, even as others nominated with her, and since, have moved all
the way through the process to Senate approval.

And Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who some have blamed for the delay, said
recently that “nothing’s happening” with the Marquez appointment.

For much of the past year, the district was under a judicial
emergency, declared in January 2011 after then-Chief Judge John Roll was
killed in a Tucson shooting spree that killed five others and wounded
13, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. There were already two vacant judgeships on the court before Roll’s death.

Last June, Obama nominated
Marquez and Jennifer Guerin Zipps to fill two of those vacancies. Zipps
had a nomination hearing last July and was approved by the full Senate
in October, but Marquez’s nomination has not moved.

Before a hearing can be scheduled, home-state senators must submit
“blue slips” to the Senate Judiciary Committee allowing the nominee to
go forward. But neither Kyl nor Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has submitted
the paperwork.

Neither Kyl nor McCain responded to requests for comment on the
Marquez nomination. But McCain said in March that the senators “do not
feel at this time that she’s qualified.”

The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal
Judiciary, which reviews federal judicial nominees, gave Marquez a
unanimous rating of “qualified,” its middle ranking between
well-qualified and not qualified.

Marquez has also won the backing of the Hispanic National Bar
Association, as well as other southern Arizona lawyers, judges and
lawmakers.

“If he (Kyl) has a compelling reason why he doesn’t want to move her,
he should be honest with her and with the public,” said Rep. Raúl
Grijalva, D-Tucson, a Marquez supporter.

Marquez could not be contacted for comment.

She was admitted to the bar in 1993 and is in private practice in Tucson, according to nominating materials
she submitted to the committee. Her resume also includes time working
in the Pima County Attorney’s Office and as a public defender.

Despite the delay, members of the legal community said the court has managed to keep up with the caseload. But just barely.

Karth said the court has rotated “nearly 60″ visiting judges through
the district court in the last year to help with the workload.

“Without their help, we would not have been able to keep up with the caseload,” he said.

Larry Hammond, a defense attorney who handles cases in the district,
said it has been “a pretty unsatisfying time period” for judges on the
court.

“This is … almost a year-and-a-half that we’ve been dealing with it,” Hammond said.

“The sense I get is that the judges really feel like they can’t do
what they ought to do,” he said. “That is, they don’t have the feeling
that if you preside over a trial you can take the time to do a trial
correctly.”

Despite that, Hammond said he thinks the judges have “still been able to do their job.”

But Karth said more help is still needed.

Even if the two vacancies were filled tomorrow – Marquez was
nominated to replace Judge Frank Zapata and a replacement for Judge Mary
Murguia has not been named – the district would still need more judges,
he said.

“We’re still anxious for our vacancies to be filled,” Karth said.

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Arizona Republican Sens. Jon Kyl, left, and John McCain, shown here at a February hearing, have not pushed for the approval of Rosemary Marquez, a White House nominee to a U.S. District Court judgeship in Arizona.

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